Wednesday, March 22, 2017

66. Before Life
Kicks The Denial Out Of Me

I was the first to get to work the next day. A black Escalade
straddled two handicap parking spots in front of the building. As I walked past, the driver rolled down his
window and asked if I was one of those idiot therapists. Technically, I’m a
trainer, not a therapist, so I answered honestly.

“No I’m not,” I said. Gerry’s father rolled the window back
up. I felt my rage building, wanting to
scream at him, ‘You’re the idiot. You’re the one who drank with his son. You’re the one who got high with his wife. You’re half the reason they’re dead.’

Instead I walked through the glass doors to the lobby. I texted Miss Rella telling her to enter the
building from the other side. I asked
her to let everyone else know they should do the same. The police arrived ten minutes after I called
911.

As they took him away, my rage cooled just enough for me to
hope this was his wake-up call. He was
estranged from his family and had just buried his wife and son. He had just been arrested. If this kick in the
teeth didn’t wake him up, what would?

When I got to my office, I made a list of times I’d made
changes before life kicked the denial out of me.

Today I’ll
be grateful for any changes I made before life kicked the denial out of me.

Needles Not For Knitting is a work of
fiction. Any resemblance between the
characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Needles Not For Knitting (c) 2017 by Ken
Montrose

Other works by Ken Montrose are
available at: http://www.amazon.com/Ken-Montrose/e/B001K8MG0S